Futurist Gerd Leonhard: Welcome to the Future - my best finds and shares - Issue #72
Greetings everyone, thanks for being a subscriber and for staying connected with me! Here are my latest must-reads and must-watch videos from the past 6 weeks.
I hope you enjoy them - if you need a bigger firehose please subscribe to my blog feed via RSS or get email updates when I post to my GerdFeed tumblr page.
Cheers from Zurich!
Gerd Leonhard
PS: please ping me anytime if you need something, just hit REPLY to this newsletter - but be sure to change the header
Twice upon a time: Our World by 2030 - two possible future scenarios. — www.youtube.com
I am delighted to present my new film "Twice Upon a Time". This fast-moving and (imho) riveting film depicts two alternate 2030 scenarios: the lousy future and the Good Future (secret link: click here to watch that segment directly). Visit the film-page on my site for more details and for more options to watch it. Please share the film widely if you enjoy it. Thanks!
Don't have 14 minutes? Here is the trailer: — www.youtube.com
This is a short trailer for my new film: TWICE UPON A TIME ...or download it via WeTransfer
The Good Future Project
TGFP has launched and is quickly gathering speed, with 100+ members and supporters already involved! The Good Future Project is supported by my company, the Futures Agency (for now) and is building a global, non-profit network of like-minded individuals and supporters who focus on powerful narratives to help make ‘The Good Future’ a reality (watch my 2021 film ‘The Good Future’ here). Read more via my blog. Join us. Watch my intro video here, or view our first live-streaming show.
A carbon tax for frequent flyers?
This a really interesting topic I will further expand on, after the holidays. Imho, it makes perfect sense to charge the super-flyers (like myself): "The richest 20 percent of people worldwide take 80 percent of the flights, according to estimates by the International Council on Clean Transportation, a nonprofit think tank. The top 2 percent of frequent fliers take about 40 percent of the flights" NYT. If Swiss or Lufthansa want to show that they care, and have foresight, they'd jump on this right now: Become circular or become toast, by 2030!
Nations Agree to Curb Emissions From Flying by 2050 - The New York Times — www.nytimes.com The agreement, years in the making, is a milestone in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from airplanes worldwide.
Can flying go green? — www.youtube.com
Covid-19 has caused the worst crisis in aviation's history. Is this the industry's moment for a green reset—and which technologies offer the best hope? Good stuff via The Economist
Related: airlines' next struggle? Where to plug in their planes — www.axios.com Airlines like United are electrifying their air and ground operations to meet emissions goals.
Recommended climate-change reads
5* long-read: Climate Change from A to ZClimate Change from A to Z — www.newyorker.com
"A carbon tax offers the most cost-effective lever to reduce carbon emissions at the scale and speed that is necessary,” a 2019 statement signed by thirty-five hundred economists, including twenty-eight Nobel Prize winners, declared. Such a tax would move “the invisible hand of the marketplace to steer economic actors towards a low-carbon future" (archive link)
Can a 'carbon coin' save the world? It may be put to the test | Greenbiz — www.greenbiz.com Steps are inching forward toward a real-world demonstration of the planet-saving financial tool from the sci-fi novel 'Ministry for the Future.'
READ THIS BOOK: The Ministry for the Future: A Novel eBook : Robinson, Kim Stanley — www.amazon.com
The Ministry for the Future: A Novel - Kindle edition by Robinson, Kim Stanley (see my clip below)
Could a ‘Carbon Coin’ Save the Planet? - WSJ — www.wsj.com
Australian civil engineer Delton Chen explains his idea for a new currency, portrayed in Kim Stanley Robinson’s climate-catastrophe novel. (hopefully my free WSJ gift link works here)
Think Twice About Working for a ‘Climate Villain’ - The Atlantic — www.theatlantic.com You’re not off the hook for your company’s actions.
How A New Currency Could Help Solve the Climate Crisis — www.youtube.com In a book that's teeming with world changing ideas, one of the most radical storylines in Kim Stanley Robinson’s sci-fi novel “Ministry for the Future” revol...
Meet the future in this online series about climate change | Bill Gates — www.gatesnotes.com The Wondrium video series ‘Solving for Zero’ is based on Bill Gates’s book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, and explores both the challenges of climate change and some of the most promising solutions.
What is the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty? | Fossil fuels | The Guardian Initiative aims to stop expansion of fossil fuel exploitation, but who supports it and how would it work?
The Extinction Clock — extinctionclock.org The Extinction Clock: the Internet's authoritative source for end of world climate and extinction predictions.
Useful tools and sites
Futurepedia - The Largest AI Tools Directory | Home — www.futurepedia.io Futurepedia is the largest AI tools directory. Browse 200+ AI tools in various categories like marketing, image generation and video editing. Search and filter the tools by categories, pricing and features.
A conversational AI system that listens, learns, and challenges. OpenAI signup required.
Archive.today is a time capsule for web pages
It takes a 'snapshot' of a webpage that will always be online even if the original page disappears. Super-useful
Recomendo — archive.recomendo.com
Recomendo is a weekly newsletter that gives you 6 brief personal recommendations of cool stuff. Great stuff here! via Kevin Kelly and friends.
Recommended videos
The Paradigm Shifts of the 2020s: keynote by Peter Leyden — www.youtube.com
This is the full 50-minute talk about the many paradigm shifts coming in the 2020s by Peter Leyden, a fellow futurist, and friend of mine, in CA (read his Medium column on transformation, here)
The Future Will Be Shaped by Optimists | Kevin Kelly | TED (yes, I'm a huge KK fan) — www.youtube.com
"Every great and difficult thing has required a strong sense of optimism," says editor and author Kevin Kelly, who believes that we have a moral obligation ...
Kim Stanley Robinson on Buddhism, Sci-fi, Climate Change, Nature, Colonizing Mars, and More — www.youtube.com
Kim Stanley Robinson is one of the greatest living science fiction writers, and one of the few people ever to have developed a credible solution ...
The case for stubborn optimism on climate | Christiana Figueres — www.youtube.com
Take action on climate change at http://countdown.ted.com."This decade is a moment of choice unlike any we have ever lived," says Christiana Figueres
Stephen Fry in support of Extinction Rebellion: 'Something has to be done' — www.youtube.com
National treasure, actor and comedian Stephen Fry called on the British public to support Extinction Rebellion. Very courageous move.
Jobs of the future will be what robots can't do — www.youtube.com
Video of Michio Kaku created by Big Think.
Will civilization collapse? | WIRED’s Kevin Kelly — www.youtube.com
WIRED founder Kevin Kelly explains why progress often looks like dystopia to the untrained eye.
Dystopian Futures - A Sci-Fi Movie Mashup — www.youtube.com
Cuts from Blade Runner- Elysium- The Road- 9- District 9- Tron: Legacy- 12 Monkeys- Children of Men-...
Bullitt (1968) - San Francisco Car Chase Scene — www.youtube.com
One of my all-time fav movie scenes (no, no EVs here)
Other must-reads
Intuition Is The Highest Form Of Intelligence — www.forbes.com
Albert Einstein said, "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." "Intuition, argues Gerd Gigerenzer, a director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, is less about suddenly "knowing" the right answer and more about instinctively understanding what information is unimportant and can thus be discarded"
How to measure happiness: hedonia vs. eudaimonia - Big Think — bigthink.com A lot of research assumes happiness is measured by comfort and material conditions. For Aristotle, it is about being the best we can be.
The World Really Is Getting Better - The Atlantic — www.theatlantic.com Talking with Bill Gates about progress, the best news in the world, and the future of food
The death of Das Auto: Can German cars survive the end of the engine? – POLITICO — www.politico.eu The move to electric is depriving the country’s most important industry of its competitive advantage.
The Battle for the Soul of the Web - The Atlantic — www.theatlantic.com Long before the NFT boom or the Web3 backlash, an unglamorous movement was under way. Where does it stand now?
Opinion | What is the worst-case AI scenario? Human extinction. via The Washington Post — www.washingtonpost.com With all our global instability and still-nascent grasp on tech, adding in ASI would be lighting a match next to a fireworks factory.
Big Ideas Report: Innovation Research by ARK Invest — ark-invest.com
Big Ideas is ARK's annual research publication seeking to highlight the latest research and developments in innovation. great stuff, every year!
Will Tesla's Optimus robot become a reality? | FT Tech Video — www.youtube.com Do humanoid robots have a future? As Elon Musk demonstrates a humanoid robot, we explore Engineered Arts - a humanoid robot factory with the creator of a hig...
Our Vision for a Responsible Tech Future | by Omidyar Network | Omidyar Network | Sep, 2022 | Medium — medium.com By Mike Kubzansky, CEO of Omidyar Network Since Omidyar Network’s founding in 2004, we have seen and enthusiastically supported many of the possibilities unlocked by digital tech. We have invested…
The Age of Social Media Is Ending - The Atlantic — www.theatlantic.com
It never should have begun. Archive link.
From my blog
Why exponential technological change needs ‘exponential humanity‘, as well | by Futurist Gerd Leonhard | Medium — www.gerd.social
From 2016 but feels like yesterday
Must-watch video on Nature Deficit Disorder & Digital Obesity — www.futuristgerd.com
Many people have asked me to explain what nature deficit disorder is, and what I mean when I speak about digital obesity. So I made this short video!
The Metaverse: Good or Evil? Introducing a brand-new and exciting speaker package with Futurists Calum Chace and Gerd Leonhard — www.futuristgerd.com
I really like Calum Chace's work on AI and the future of technology (and of course, his books) but I don't agree on most of his conclusions on how we are going to build what I call The Good Future. One of our most contentious...
Podcast: Speaking across differences – Futurists Bill Halal and Gerd Leonhard — www.futuristgerd.com
Professor Bill Halal and me met once again (following our recent GerdTalks show on 'Beyond Knowledge); this time for a podcast / audio only discussion about the need for improving how we speak to each other and how to become better listeners. Check it out!
The Future of Education: STEM & HECI (Humanity, Ethics, Creativity, Imagination). A short explanation (video) — www.futuristgerd.com
The end of routine is coming, but it's NOT the end of human work - if we focus on what only humans can do - the human-only skills, traits and mindsets. If you work like a robot, a robot will take your job...
What You Need to Know Episode #3: Why we should be optimistic about the future. — www.futuristgerd.com
I just released episode 3 of my new WhatYouNeed2Know series: Why we can and should be optimistic and why the future is better than we think (and yes, that is an audacious thing to say, right now). I believe that humans are capable of collaboration...
Gerd's latest Youtube releases, and Podcasts
Futurist Podcast Ep32 The Good Future with Gerd Leonhard — www.youtube.com Gerd Leonhard, renowned Futurist and Humanist, bestselling author and thought leader joins The Futurists this week to talk a positive future. Like many of ou...
Smileys
SMARTBOAT – ENGLISH VERSION – REMA 1000 — www.youtube.com
It´s summer and again we meet the "Smart home guy". This time he is out with his smart boat – voice controlled, of course. What could possibly go wrong?
You are a work of art — portrait.vana.com “Portrait” by Vana is a generative art studio that can create self-portraits of you in infinite styles.
